Should I buy an RX8??

[Kaito1412]

Dont get it, get mazda 3 instead.

[tortoise1810]

rx8 is a well balanced car, it is a refined type r from every aspect.
stop the bullsh!t "pro" tuners

[wsk4]

up to you

[lowside67]

Originally Posted by spigot52

The engine should have lasted longer than that...what happened to it?

God I wish I could fail you. Reading Comprehension > You.

[Mugen EvOlutioN]

Originally Posted by tortoise1810

rx8 is a well balanced car, it is a refined type r from every aspect.
stop the bullsh!t "pro" tuners

except Type R is reliable, rotary on the other hand? not so much

[Ricebox]

I have a 2008 RX8, bought it for my wife. They burn lots of oil and are real hard on gas and the dealership said thats normal for the RX8. It has 9500 km on it. I barely use it and would much rather drive my 2008 G37S MT6 ' way better car to drive and have fun with. Both cars were bought brand new.JMO on thr RX8.

[SomeOtherAsian]

I unno about the auto part. That seems kinda lame. But rebult status is a no no.
I own a 05 rx6 6mt love my car. Just like what DragonsMaw said. Just gotta pick up new habits. But i dont think you should got your buddies rx8. JMO

[Energy]

It drives and handles kind of like an S2000 with a hardtop. More practical because of the 4 seats. Maintenance is nothing like an S2000 tho.

[Hioctane]

Any car is gonna break down if it's not properly taken care of; not just rotary, piston engines too.... hack, your computer breaks down if not taken care of properly.
You put on cheap parts, and they come back to haunt you in the future, who is there to blame other than yourself?

Rotary engine is designed as a racing engine, it is sensitive to poor maintainece and abuse. If you don't have the time + money + heart to look after one, plan to treat it like a beater.... of course, it would break down and become a 'worthless' car compared to other cars out in the market.

As for the rebuilt, was it the engine that's rebuilt, or has the vehicle been in an accident? You should figure this out first.

And most importantly, go for a test drive before making a decision. Good deal or not, it depends on whether you like the car or not.

[!Aznboi128]

get it, then drop a 20b into it

THEN you'll be laughing

[LeoGeo]

if only the engine is rebuilt, and if it's rebuilt by certified professional, it should be a good deal for that model if u do not enyoy driving a manual tranny. but if the car itself is a rebuilt, which sounds like it, u should be more careful about it. chassis damage couldn't be fixed completely in many cases and many bodyshop just do a cheesy rebuilt to make money, so if u're not too familiar with the model of car or just buying ur first or 2nd car, should just stay away from rebuilt vehicles.

[tortoise1810]

20b conversion is worth it, as long as you have the money

[toddzilla]

Kinda a late reply to your enquiry but being a brand new RX8 owner, I thought I'd pipe in.

I was in the market for either a 350, G35 (coupe) or RX - all '04-06 range.

The 350 has the typical Nissan complaints, worst of which is the hideous interior and lack of space, obviously. Plus, it felt 'boaty' and haandling and steering feel wasn't up to expectations. Great engine note and pull, however.

The Infiniti has a semi-usable rear seat, nicer/higher quality interior and the same powertrain, so obviously, an all-around nicer car....then I drove a RX-8 GT.

The interior design and layout and fit and finish was hands down the best of the 3. The rear seats actually have usable room for 6 footers (!!) - and the options list was impressive (nav/heated power seats, 9 speaker Bose system - the piano black highlights..lol The car just has a quality feel that can't be written of, but has to be experienced. Very, very tight body with absolutely no perceptible flex/squeaks/groans - which is amazing with the suicide doors - and the handling, cornering and steering feel was easily the best of the 3.

The power on paper is seemingly weak, and it is true that with so little (relative) torque, you don't get thrust back on launch, but with a very flat torque curve that does register fairly down low, you'd be amazed to see how fast it builds speed......it is deceptive and you are doing well over 100 km/h in 2nd gear before the 9000rpm redline is met! This is a momentum car and so long as you're not expecting a Mustang-like stoplight terror (I've had 4 lol!) - these little buggers will hang with some pretty big dogs and on aa windy road, leave most in their wake..easily. It's been published that the RX-8 is - to this day - one of the sweetest handling cars EVER produced and when you learn to utilize the ridiculously smooth rotary to its' potential, your sh!t-eating grin is permanent!

As you can tell, I love this car more every day. Now the bad (?)

Yes, the rotary is a hot girlfriend car - if you will - in that you will be adding some oil every 3 or 4 fills, especially if you have a heavy foot. Big whoop, I say. $5 a month to keep things right? It's not synthetic so no huge expense.

My biggest beef - as is most with any rotary - is the mpg's you get. I come from V8 Mustangs, older 911s and newer 944 Turbos, BMW 3 series, etc......and for such a light, small car, I can't understand how it only get's about 16-18 mpg in city driving!!? I get about 350 kms on a tank, though I haven't done a highway run yet (they say it practically doubles - these HATE stop and go traffic) Essentially, I got the same mileage around town as my last 2003 full load (heavy!) Mustang GT 'vert!....with a 4.6 V8!? But as many have said (mostly fellow RX-8 enthusiasts) - if you bought a sports car for the mpg's, you bought the wrong car. And in pretty much every measurable performance perameter, the Mustang would get owned, save for 0-60/dragstrip.

So I guess I (obviously!) recommend the 8 to you - if you're even still looking, though honestly - as you will see if you go to the RX-8 sites around - the auto is pretty much slammed universally, unless you HAVE to avoid rowing for yourself.......but trust me - snick thru the super-sweet 6 speeds gearbox and you won't wanna go back!

Hope this helped!!

~T~

[spigot52]

How to hell do you get 350 kms per tank? I'm happy if I break the 300 barrier.
BTW this http://www.axialflow.com/products.htm sure improved the snick.

[toddzilla]

I get the low fuel light at right around 300 so at that point, I'm at 50 litres used - add another 10 in reserve and I could theoretically manage 350 if I let it run dry...never have though. Still pretty rough at that, but at this point, I've learned to live with it!

[Raid3n]

welcome to the world of the rotary, todd. =D

fuel efficient is something the rotary engine is not.
but keep in mind its had nearly 3/4 of a century less of R&D than the piston engine.

in my 2nd gen turbo i get about 320-350 in the city to a 70L tank, depending on how i drive. it's something i've learned to accept haha. but i also get 500-550 on the highway. you have obviously seen what us RE enthusiasts see in the cars that others seem to over look, and i think its a safe bet that you've been bitten by the rotary bug and you'll keep coming back over the years ;D

enjoy it to the fullest, and remember to redline once in a while to keep carbon build up in check.

[toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Raid3n

welcome to the world of the rotary, todd. =D

fuel efficient is something the rotary engine is not.
but keep in mind its had nearly 3/4 of a century less of R&D than the piston engine.

in my 2nd gen turbo i get about 320-350 in the city to a 70L tank, depending on how i drive. it's something i've learned to accept haha. but i also get 500-550 on the highway. you have obviously seen what us RE enthusiasts see in the cars that others seem to over look, and i think its a safe bet that you've been bitten by the rotary bug and you'll keep coming back over the years ;D

enjoy it to the fullest, and remember to redline once in a while to keep carbon build up in check.

I've always had a soft spot for Mazdas....for whatever reason?! I guess since the inception of the RX7, they were always interesting to me. And when a 2nd gen TurboII kept door to door with my 5.0 coupe back in the day, I knew they were pretty quick.

I must admit, I'd have loved a 3rd gen RX as I still feel they are gorgeous and timeless, but I just kept hearing scary things about reliability and frequency of repairs, so I never even tested one.......I'm sure I'd have been hooked! lol

But the RX8 has really grown on me over the weeks I've owned it. I did miss the bottom end grunt when I first bought it, having come from V8s for the most part - but I find that if you get past that, the car is an utter blast to drive, rivaling and probably beating everything I've owned with the possible exception of a '76 Porsche 911S that just has an inherent character and fun factor that can't be matched, though obviously the Mazda is much smoother and more refined - but still carves corners and reacts to steering input like nothing I have owned. I'm thinking, how much fun this car would be with a blower/turbo!!

I do make sure to hit redline daily...usually more than once ;^)

I do have a few things I need to look into. I'm thinking - at 45000 miles - the coilpacks might be getting weak? And I'd like to find out if the car has had the latest dealer flash done. Other than this, she just had a mild tune (plugs, wires and air filter, and an oil change)

I am getting used to the mileage, though at first I couldn't understand how it could be in the mid teens around town, but I remembered my old 911 got maybe 14 mpg in the city so I guess you buy a sports car, this is pretty much par for the course!

I mught have to keep this one a little longer the the ones in the past!

[ShadowBun]

wait the RX8 can fit 6'3 driver with ease? no more ninja driving?

[Phil@rise]

They are great cars if you know how to drive them. All rotaries regardless of generation require a different driving style. Those who get in one without prior knowledge or experience of that will not be easily impressed. That being said the worst transmission to ever put behind a rotary is an automatic it takes all the life out of the motor and gets even worst fuel mileage.
If you don't know how to drive stick then learn and get a standard one. I don't even understand why Mazda would offer this car in an auto it ruins it.
If your stuck on an auto then get a non rotary car.


A German engineer by the name of Felix Wankel is the man who designed and built the first rotary. It took him nearly a decade back in the fifties to get it operational. Just some useless trivia for those not knowing. The project was sold off due to reliability and fuel consumption issues. Mazda has come leaps and bounds with the design since buying the rights back in the early 70's or late 60's I believe.

[Raid3n]

Unless they skimped on build quality for the 8, you shouldn't need coils for a very long time. I'm still running the 20 year old factory coils in my fc
Posted via RS Mobile

[toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Raid3n

Unless they skimped on build quality for the 8, you shouldn't need coils for a very long time. I'm still running the 20 year old factory coils in my fc
Posted via RS Mobile

Really?? I was under the impression that the spark plug coils were a maintenace/tune-up thing that should probably be done by now (7 years old/46000 miles)? Is there a accurate way to test they're tip top? Any advice on getting the latest dealer 'flash' as well? (ie - a good dealer)

Thanx!

[Raid3n]

do you mean the ingition coils? big packs in the engine bay? then no, those aren't consumables like sparkplugs afaik. i have never changed coil packs on any of the 5 or so FC's i've ever owned. but like i said, i don't know how much the coil packs have changed since the fc, or how much they've cheaped out on them.

find the FSM for the rx8 and see if there is a diagnostic section on the coils to see if they are in spec. will most likely require a DMM.

as for dealer, i am not sure. try the dealer in maple ridge, one of the guys on bcrotary, his dad is the service manager there i believe.

[AlanW]

Just to reiterate a few ideas that people already mentioned but I own a '94 FD3S and I run premix in every tank of gas, change the sparkplugs every 5-7k, change oil every 3-5k. I am running a Power FC ECU with Streetport, so I have to take care of my car more often, but a stock 13b in an RX-8 shouldn't be much different. I got my it last summer with a rebuilt engine with about 25k on it. Compression was already in the mid-90's in the rear rotor from the previous owner's lack of care. But it's stayed there (mid 90's psi) with the ~20k additional miles I've put on it, primarily because I follow simple steps with maintenance and provide enough cooling.

Having said that, I know the RX-8 doesn't have the same heatsoak and cooling issues as the RX-7 but the 13b engine in there needs to be taken care of just the same way. Maintenance isn't particularly that much more expensive. Oil changes do need to be done a little more frequently and spark plugs need to be changed I'd say twice in the time you change your oil and oil filter 3 times. If you follow those steps and run premix (Idemitsu premix is amazing and relatively affordable) in every tank, you'll have a good engine and will last you much longer than most. My friend owned an FD with an aggressive streetport that he did himself and his engine lasted almost 80k of aggressive California heat tracking and daily driving.

You'll love the car if you know how to take care of it. Rev it all the way up occasionally and hear that 13b roar. Good luck with the car!

[Raid3n]

^on a stock engine, particularly a new one like in an Rx8 or in a rebuilt one, there is really no need to worry about pre-mixing. i have never premixed in any of my 7's and never had a problem with the omp.

and if you're fouling your plugs enough to need to change them every other oil change, then you are premixing too much.

[AlanW]

Yes, I agree that running too much premix will foul the plugs and shorten their lifespan. I'm running NGK platinum 9's in leading and trailing and it was very cheap for me to buy a large amount of plugs at once (I bought 24 @ roughly $4 each). I'd rather switch out $16 worth of plugs than risk not having enough lubrication in the engine and having something go out on me and cost me thousands. I'm actually running slightly less than the 4oz of 2-stroke premix per tank suggestion as given by the experts on the rx7club forums. A lot of people on there change their plugs every oil change as well.

As for the stock 13b-msp not needing premix, I don't think it would hurt the operation of the engine, a little more lubrication is never a bad thing (too much could be though), much more similar to the side-effects of running TOO much premix (plugs fouling early). That's what I've gathered from my research and talking with tech guys at MazdaTrix and RRR and other rx7/rotary specialists here in socal, though I definitely believe if the proper amount of care if exercised, then not running premix could produce the same, healthy results.